Van Morrison's 13th album dates from 1982 and arguably shows the singer at his most contented. It's got a jazz feel rather than the R&B one he made his name with and includes fan favourite Cleaning Windows, harking back to Van's pre-music career. Uilleann bagpipes dominate opener Celtic Ray, which sees Van at his most mystical and spiritual. Dweller On The Threshold is a moderately-tempoed toe tapper with deep, spiritual lyrics that could be interpreted several ways. Closer Scandinavia is a relaxing instrumental, featuring Morrison on piano. In fact the whole album's mood is predominantly laid back and relaxing, helped in part by the presence of Mark Knopfler on two of the tracks, which echo the more relaxed work from Dire Straits. Definitely a change of pace from Van compared to his classic 1970's run, the whole flows well as a complete work, well-produced by Morrison. Great late night listening. (Amazon)
Album outtakes from the recording session of the album "Beautiful Vision" announced in 1982. Early versions of "Cleaning Window" and "Celtic Ray" that would later be re-recorded, with later lyrics, were recorded at the Record Plant in Sausalito, California on July 27, 1981. The recording session that was shelved at this time, such as the instrumental tune that was the basis of the recording, was recorded on a high-quality sound board that was leaked.
01. Scandinavia - 8.36
02. Daring Night - 14.01
03. Daring Night II - 8.31
04. Cleaning Windows - 5.41
05. Down The Road I Go - 3.26
06. Celtic Ray - 5.34
07. All Saints Day - 3.37
08. Instrumental - 8.09
09. Cleaning Windows [Dirty Old Man Version] - 4.34
Of all the ground-breaking releases of the early 2000s, few come as seismic, and ironically underrated, as Norwegian duo Röyksopp’s 2001 debut,
Melody A.M. Svein Berge and Torbjørn Brundtland’s natural talent for churning out hits pushed them to the top of the charts in Norway and all over Europe, exploding them into stardom seemingly out of nowhere. Yet Melody AM is the result of a decade of the two honing their synergy, tinkering with synths and samplers since their school days and embedding themselves within the communities of the famed Bergen Wave.
When their very first single ‘So Easy’ dropped in 1999, with its bass stabs and punchy rhythms, it was settled: “Watch these guys gain ubiquity,” as they recall THE FACE once said. Since then, several tracks from the album were tipped for channel idents and countless adverts (you’ll naturally have heard its lead single ‘Eple’), but there’s far more to Melody A.M. than its commercial success. Cloaked in billowing smoke clouds, the dreamy gauze of ‘So Easy’ is cut through by robotic growls and liquid record scratches, while ‘Eple’ twinkles and whistles with intricate synth-n-sample interplay, kaleidoscopic jangle guitars and sliding frets delayed to watery effect, all measured by a gloriously laid back downtempo rhythm.
They’re two handy introductions to the beautifully languid character of most of the album, with the likes of ‘Sparks’ containing smooth, subtle vocoder in between lo-fi vocals, and ‘She’s So’ head-nodding rhythm. But that’s only one side of the coin: ‘Poor Leno’ breaks from the trip hop mist with outgoing house, leading to the bouncy shadowplay of ‘A Higher Place’ tracing out a noir-ish B-movie atmosphere with crunchy, crackling volcanic beats, and the psychedelic vortex and cheeky self-reflexivity of ‘Röyksopp’s Night Out’.
Melody A.M. conjures images of an idyllic technicolour postcard fjordscape from one of the most exciting breakthrough acts to come out of Norway this century. (BLEEP)
Will add link for each disc, so check the discogs link, maybe you don't want the full set of 5 discs, you can pick and choose what you take. Not sure how many I will share each day, just what is uploaded is shared. But would guess will be complete in two or three days.
Blues Reflex is a new and all acoustic album that features Bob’s jaw dropping talent on several National guitars, Bear Creek 7 string Hawaiian guitars, Weissenborn Hawaiian guitars, a baglama, as well as percussion, vocals and so much more. This album was influenced by his worldwide travels yet pays homage to his elders and influences. This is a disc full of creative styles, tones, and originality. It’s a nice way to blend the old with the new Bob Brozman style.
All stringed and percussion instruments are played by Bob Brozman except the drums on tracks 2, 11 and 12 by Gregg Graber.
Bob is also an Adjunct Professor at the Department of Music, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia. Go check him out on the web at: www.bobbrozman.com
If you’re a fan of acoustic blues check it out and hear something fresh and out of the ordinary. (STLBlues.net)
Capercaillie - 2004 - Grace And Pride, The Anthology
Double CD featuring music from Capercaillie's twenty year span. Classic tracks combine with previously unreleased material, long deleted tracks and rare recordings.
Capercaillie have been credited with being the major force in bringing Celtic music to the world stage, and their unique fusion of Gaelic culture and contemporary sound has always stretched boundaries in their quest to keep the music evolving.